
Monday, April 30, 2007
Bay of Fundy Lobster map

Saturday, April 28, 2007
Bay of Fundy - One of Canada's 7 Wonders?
CBC introduced a new contest this week that met with a great flurry of interest from our little corner of the country. I went to the CBC website earlier this week to nominate the Bay of Fundy - that is, the whole Bay of Fundy. Apparently lots of other Fundy folk did the same because Sounds Like Canada host Shelagh Rogers noted on Friday that Niagara Falls and the Bay of Fundy were the two most popular nominees so far!
Anyone who knows the Bay of Fundy can make a compelling case for it to be considered for this accolade. The Bay appears on various international list for great Wonders of the World but is perhaps less appreciated here in our own country - kudos to CBC for making Canadians more aware of these special places in Canada. If you'd like to vote for the Bay of Fundy, visit the CBC website.
Anyone who knows the Bay of Fundy can make a compelling case for it to be considered for this accolade. The Bay appears on various international list for great Wonders of the World but is perhaps less appreciated here in our own country - kudos to CBC for making Canadians more aware of these special places in Canada. If you'd like to vote for the Bay of Fundy, visit the CBC website.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
It could be because I'm Pisces...

Choleena DiTullio is Fine Arts grad who uses acrylic as her primary medium. Her recent experimentation with phosphorescent painting has been very well received. Inspired by the natural phenomenon where deep-sea fish use bioluminescent nodes to glow in the dark, her artwork 'charges' in the daylight then creates a whole new painting for the wall on which it is hung after lights-out. Her work is in private collections across Canada, in the U.S. and Australia.
If you are in the Bay of Fundy region you can catch some of Choleena's work at the fabulous Fog Forest Gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick.
I love this artist's view into the undersea, afterhours life of our Bay!
(The above sketches have been posted with Choleena's permission.)
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Art mimics life 200+ million years ago


The paintings will hang in the Fundy Geological Museum which is dedicated to the Triassic-Jurassic periods. All of the animals, all of the plants in the paintings are based on the fossil records found in Nova Scotia, which played a very important part in the formation of the Bay of Fundy region as we now know it.
Here are two of the photos as published in the newspaper today. The first on depicts what the region would have looked like 200 million years ago; the second shows a Prosauropod, a Jurassic-era dinasour that was found near Parrsboro.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Whale blog
Here's a link to a really cool whale blog, hosted by whale watch operator Quoddy Link Marine in St Andrews, New Brunswick. One of their staff, Danielle, a whale reseacher keeps a really detailed blog about whale sighting, whale info, etc. Things are gearing up for the season so take a look.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Lobster will soon be back!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Making maple candy

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Ride 'The Bubble' on the Bay of Fundy

This exercise involves being harnessed inside the inflatable bubble frame show here then tumbling through the rapids, spinning in whirlpools and flipping through white caps. Note: you've got to be super-fit to maneuver this creature!
Friday, April 13, 2007
High-low tide video
While I was in an exploratory mood this week, I popped over to YouTube to see what sort of Bay of Fundy content I might discover. Found this ancient video clip from Britannica The voiceover is a bit groovy but it features an excellent timed video of the tide coming in so take a look! Another successful qualifier for my Bay of Fundy high-low tide collection!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Jet Boating in the Bay of Fundy

The thrill ride is a great opportunity to feel and appreciate the power of Fundy's tides as the outflowing St John River meets the incoming tides. It's 20 minutes of pure exhilaration as you blast through the tidal rapids. Ah yes, plan to get totally, fabulously wet on this adventure. It's a blast!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Spring has sprung!


I toddled around the Gardens with my camera a couple weeks ago, when it appeared that spring was well on its way. Since then things have been cool and slowed the plants down a bit, but the Gardens are beautiful as the early spring colour unfolds.The Witch Hazels are still in bloom (in the rose garden), the heaths are blooming (winter collection), and early bulbs throughout.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd share a few sunny spring photos with you, just to remind you that spring really is on its way! Trish
To see some of Trish's other pics check out my November posting: Bay of Fundy At Bloom in November?
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Maple marinade recipe
With the abundance of maple syrup we have in the region our culinary inclinations extend well past pancakes. Here's a maple marinade for chicken or pork chops that I've been using for years:
Maple Marinade
1/2 c maple syrup
3 tsp Dijon mustard
zest & juice of one lemon
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
6 twists of freshly grated pepper
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 c. olive oil
Blend all ingredients, refrigerate for 24 hrs. Marinate meat for 45 minutes minimum. BBQ or roast meat, basting with marinade. Serves 4. To pump up the punch, consider adding more ginger, garlic or even chopped chili peppers!
This recipe came from Elaine Elliott's Maple Syrup cookbook.
Maple Marinade
1/2 c maple syrup
3 tsp Dijon mustard
zest & juice of one lemon
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
6 twists of freshly grated pepper
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 c. olive oil
Blend all ingredients, refrigerate for 24 hrs. Marinate meat for 45 minutes minimum. BBQ or roast meat, basting with marinade. Serves 4. To pump up the punch, consider adding more ginger, garlic or even chopped chili peppers!
This recipe came from Elaine Elliott's Maple Syrup cookbook.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Maple syrup FAQs
It seems like just about every sub-topic related to living here by the Bay of Fundy has its own set of frequently asked questions and maple syrup making is no exception. Here are a few that I've heard at our maple farm along with my answers:
1. How many litres of sap from the maple tree does it take to make one litre of syrup? By the time the sap is boiled down to syrup, 40 litres of sap has become one litre of syrup.
2. Can you make maple syrup out of all maple trees or just sugar maples? Techically, you can make syrup out of sap from other maples but Sugar Maple sap has a higher natural concentration of sugar so it is greatly preferred. (The other maple saps would take much more boiling to get them to the sweetness of sugar maple syrup).
3. What sort of spring weather favours sap production in the trees? Sap 'prefers' cool nights and warm days. My uncle cheers at daytime temps of plus 5 to plus 8 degrees Celius and a good overnight frost or temperature around minus 5.
4. I've heard that maple sugar is actually good for you, is that true? Everything I've heard and read about this indicates that yes, maple syrup is actually good for you. It is know to contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, manganese, phosphorus and iron as well as the B complex vitamins. It also has antioxident properties that have been compared with well-known antioxidents broccoli and green tea.
1. How many litres of sap from the maple tree does it take to make one litre of syrup? By the time the sap is boiled down to syrup, 40 litres of sap has become one litre of syrup.
2. Can you make maple syrup out of all maple trees or just sugar maples? Techically, you can make syrup out of sap from other maples but Sugar Maple sap has a higher natural concentration of sugar so it is greatly preferred. (The other maple saps would take much more boiling to get them to the sweetness of sugar maple syrup).
3. What sort of spring weather favours sap production in the trees? Sap 'prefers' cool nights and warm days. My uncle cheers at daytime temps of plus 5 to plus 8 degrees Celius and a good overnight frost or temperature around minus 5.
4. I've heard that maple sugar is actually good for you, is that true? Everything I've heard and read about this indicates that yes, maple syrup is actually good for you. It is know to contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, manganese, phosphorus and iron as well as the B complex vitamins. It also has antioxident properties that have been compared with well-known antioxidents broccoli and green tea.
Monday, April 02, 2007
It's maple season here on Bay of Fundy

We've a maple sugar making family in the upper part of the Bay of Fundy for over 100 years. We only tap about 4000 trees (fairly small amount compared with some other farms) but that's enought to keep our family, our town, our visitors and quite a few restaurants in Halifax supplied with real maple syrup for a year.
By the way, we jokingly call imitation table syrup telephone pole syrup since it compares that unfavourably with the real stuff!